... Many of those same radios are being sold through legitimate/commercial dealers ...
OK so far ...
... for FRS/GMRS rigs ...
Not OK - they are not legal for either the GMRS nor the FRS.
... the same Puxing ... was bought in large numbers in the Palm Springs area for backup
coms between all the gated communities in case of an earthquake ...
The day my community uses Wouxun/Puxing products for ANY facet of community service is the day I move. AFTER educating the powers-that-be of the dire consequences of using sub-par equipment to protect their constituents.
But when it comes to these matters hams do not care about reliability or dependability or service or parts availability - 'cause the "price is right."
You get what you pay for.
Clint Bradford, K6LCS
At 06:05 AM 1/15/2012, Clint Bradford wrote:
... Many of those same radios are being sold through
legitimate/commercial dealers ...
OK so far ...
... for FRS/GMRS rigs ...
Not OK - they are not legal for either the GMRS nor the FRS.
We've had similar issues over here with UHF CB, where ex commercial radios have been converted to the UHF CB band (477 MHz). Originally, commercial spec equipment was approved for use on this band, provided the power was turned down to 5W or less (the legal limit) and transmit was enabled only on the legal CB channels. However, converted radios as "high powered UHF" radios became popular due to lack of enforcement. In the last couple of years, we have seen a change in the ACMA's approach, and they have been seen at hamfests confiscating radios that are promoted for illegal use. The word is certainly out that the inspectors do frequent hamfests, and are active in dealing with dodgy stall operators.
Sounds like your FCC needs to take a similar approach and jump on these sales.
... the same Puxing ... was bought in large numbers in the Palm
Springs area for backup coms between all the gated communities in case of an earthquake ...
The day my community uses Wouxun/Puxing products for ANY facet of community service is the day I move. AFTER educating the powers-that-be of the dire consequences of using sub-par equipment to protect their constituents.
That's rather scary, quite frankly.
73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL http://vkradio.com
... Sounds like your FCC needs to take a similar approach and jump on these sales.
I am not a "radio cop" nor an "FCC cop" (and you didn't say I was, either). But it really bugs me to see otherwise honest folks selling these radios as "Ham / MURS / FRS / GMRS / Marine" rigs. And/or hams using them for all these services, under the pretense, "Well, in an emergency, I AM allowed to use anything ... "
Yes, these rigs will transmit on all those U.S. services. But just because they can doesn't mean they should.
When the U.S. FRS service was created, GMRS repeater owners were screaming bloody murder that the FRS handhelds would interfere with their repeater operations. And although I cannot find a documented case of an FRS handheld interfering in that manner, that "paranoia" has seemed to disappear with the advent of these new Chinese imports. THAT'S how powerful the "price point" is with a segment of the market.
Hey - even the ARRL lab was "fooled" by their test Wouxun HT - with no correction ever published that I saw - as they declared it a dual-receive unit in their published "test lab" report a while ago. No Wouxun HT as of this date has dual VFOs, of course.
And so it goes ...
Clint K6LCS 909-241-7666
On 14/01/12 19:05, Clint Bradford wrote:
The day my community uses Wouxun/Puxing products for ANY facet of community service is the day I move. AFTER educating the powers-that-be of the dire consequences of using sub-par equipment to protect their constituents.
What would you rather they use? Motorola, which generally ship massively out-of-spec and therefore require calibration fresh from the factory? Even when tuned to spec, they have an output spectrum like a hedgehog...
I'd take the cheapie chinese radios any day.
You get what you pay for.
No. No, you don't. You really, really don't.
participants (3)
-
Clint Bradford -
Gordon JC Pearce -
Tony Langdon